Japan edge out Canada

Japan recorded a 26-22 victory over Canada at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday to kick off their June international account with a triumph.

Despite being 0-5 adrift when Taylor Paris scored for Canada, Japan bounced back with a penalty from fly-half Yu Tamura that made it 3-5.

Canada added the second try of the match via hooker Ray Barkwill that scrum-half Gordon McRorie converted to push his side 3-12 ahead.

Just before the break Japan responded through hooker Takeshi Kizu to close the gap to 10-12 before Tamura kicked a penalty for the lead.

At 13-12 Japan were just ahead at the turnaround but it was Canada who struck first after the break when Jamie Cudmore made it 13-17.

But when Aaron Carpenter was yellow carded, Tamura made Canada pay with three points before the number eight returned to the action.

Japan crucially were the next scorer on 70 minutes through Kotaro Matsushima, converted by Tamura, which pushed them 23-17 ahead.

So when Tamura made it 26-17 Canada needed two scores and could only muster one via Carpenter as their June opener ended in defeat.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Paris, Barkwill, Cudmore, Carpenter
Con:  McRorie

For Japan:
Tries:  Kizu, Matsushima
Con:  Tamura 2
Pen:  Tamura 4

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Brock Staller, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Alistair Clark, 22 Jamie Mackenzie, 23 Mozac Samson

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kyosuke Horie, 7 Taiyo Ando, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Kazuhiko Usami, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Futoshi Mori, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shokei Kin, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Rikiya Matsuda

Referee:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina)